The Miracle Diet

You eat food that has calories. And you do things that burn calories. The calories left over get stored as fat. And thus, the typical advice for losing weight: eat less, exercise more. Fewer calories are eaten and more are burned and so the result is less fat. There’s just one problem: that’s really hard. To burn enough calories to lose a lot of weight, you really have to put an awful lot of time into it. And if you try to eat less, your body just feels hungry all the time, because it wants more.

So what if instead of forcing your body to eat less, you teach your body to want less. After all, it’s clear that it’s obesity, not lack of fat, that’s the health problem. So getting your body to want less food would be a good thing. And it would make dieting incredibly easy too — instead of fighting to count calories or avoid eating certain foods, you do nothing at all; you’re just not interested in eating.

It sounds like a pipe dream, but Seth Roberts argues that it’s possible. Drawing on the results of a number of studies with rats, his own experiments on himself, and the best research on nutrition and weight loss, he’s developed a theory of how the body decides what it feels like eating.

Our body’s weight, he says, is regulated by a “set point”, like the setting on a thermostat. If our weight is lower than our internal set point, we feel hungry; higher, we feel full. So if you want to weigh less, all you need to do is lower your body’s set point. Your body will stop being hungry, you’ll burn the fat you already have, and your weight will go down.

But how would you do that? Roberts argues that a person’s set point isn’t fixed, instead it goes up and down based on what they eat. After all, the whole reason the body stores up calories when food is abundant is so it can use them in “lean years”, when food is scarce. So it would make sense for a person’s set point to go up when food is abundant (allowing them to build up fat) and down when it’s scarce (so they don’t feel hungry all the time).

The problem, of course, is that food is never scarce anymore. You can always just go to McDonald’s. The body is storing up for an eventuality that will never come. So how do you get it to stop? Maybe you could trick it into thinking food was scarce.

This is where Roberts’s big insight comes — he argues that we use a Pavlovian sort of flavor-conditioning system to see whether food is scarce. If we eat foods frequently, we grow to like their taste, and thus our brain realizes we’re eating them out of choice and raises the set point. On the other hand, if we eat new foods or foods with little taste, our brain assumes we’re eating them because there’s nothing else around and the set point is lowered.

And thus, the way to lower your set point: eat foods with no taste. Of course, they have to have calories as well, so Roberts’s preferred suggestion is extra-light olive oil (ELOO), which is basically just oil with absolutely no taste. Your body gets the calories but it doesn’t get the taste, so the set point goes lower every time you eat it.

It all seems crazy, but Roberts is sort of a crazy guy, so he decided to test it. He started taking a couple hundred tasteless calories every day. Almost immediately, he begun feeling less hungry. He started eating one meal every other day, even while still exercising, and felt great. He lost a pound of weight a week with no effort. He lost so much weight that his friends started telling him that he looked too thin, so he started taking less tasteless calories and put some weight back on. It was amazing; a diet plan unlike any other.

He told friends about it and it worked for them too. It was written up in The New York Times and readers wrote in with letters saying it was working for them. Blogs started to keep track of people’s stories — almost all successful. And now he has a new book yesterday, The Shangri-La Diet, which explains how you can do it to.

The book is odd, in that it looks pretty much like any other silly diet book, but the contents are rather different. Although clearly rushed, the book has an appendix of scientific studies using rats to back up its arguments about theory and happily features the stories of people who tried the diet and found it didn’t work along with those who tried the diet and found it did.

Obviously, such anecdotal evidence isn’t enough to prove the system works, but it does make it intriguing enough to try. I’ve started taking a couple tablespoons of extra light olive oil and already I found myself skipping a meal, something I’ve never been able to do before. We’ll see how it goes.

Hrm. I’d rather fast every other week or once a month, eat healthy and exercise regularly. Steady improvement, incremental gains maintained consistently over time lead to large returns within several months. A book I’d recommend for this is Body for Life by Bill Phillips.

Eating tasteless food makes it seem like eating is work… instead of an opportunity to relax, enjoy the company of good friends or a good book and take a break from the daily grind.

Also, a question: how is he getting nutrition if he’s just eating olive oil? Does he add in vitamins and minerals via supplements?

Hrm. I’d rather fast every other week or once a month, eat healthy and exercise regularly.

Given Aaron’s description, I don’t think the book disagrees with that. We can all agree that it’s an input → process → output issue right? If you process less than you input you store the output.

The question this guy tries to solve is, “how do I lower input?” Your proposed solution is eating healthy and fasting, but that’s the same as saying ‘satiating hunger with stuff that’s not necessarily what you want to eat, and dieting’.

Ignoring the ‘how do I eat healthy when I want to eat junk’ question, the next step is, ‘how do I get the resolve to diet if I’m hungry’?

Solving the ‘I don’t need to eat but I’m hungry problem’ in a relatively universal and testable way would be pretty cool. I bet there are people doing ‘actual science’ (robust experiments) about that issue.

If eating tasteless foods sends a signal to your body that food is scarce and it’s time to burn off fat, then wouldn’t it be better to eat food that tastes positively awful? Maybe you should be downing cod liver oil rather than olive oil. Seriously, try it; it worked for me. ;-)

Forget all these bullshit weight-loss manuals. Those four words above summarise all that you need to know. The rest is just pain management and scheduling. If you don’t feel hungry occasionally, you’re not losing weight. The trick is then to schedule the hunger to times where you can best tolerate it (and have the smallest chance of picking up a snack), and try to minimise the duration of pain by giving the stomach something to do. That can be done by drinking water and other low-energy drinks (green and herbal teas without too much sugar, etc.). Excercise also helps by masking the pain with endorphins.
Exercise itself, however, does not use up much energy, although it can increase your metabolism. Infact, excercise should be used to replace the lost fat in muscles with new muscle tissue.

At this point I’m maintaining my weight by simply avoiding sugar & bad fats and eating more whole grains (plus going to the gym). As a bonus, my cholesterol, which used to be dangerously high, is now close to normal without taking any medication for it.

Cod liver oil might work for a little while, but eventually if it had enough calories you’d grow to like the taste (according to the theory).

If you don’t feel hungry occasionally, you’re not losing weight.

Did you even bother to read the blog post? (Obviously you’ll still feel hungry occasionally, like when you need to eat a normal meal, but I assume you meant feeling more hungry than before losing weight.)

You can grow to kind of like the feeling of hunger. It tells you that something good is happening, and so you feel great, if the feeling doesn’t become too grave. Infact, eating too much can make you feel bad (not pain, just bad) after you’re used to a bit of hunger.

Anyway, I’m just saying that you should eat almost what you want. You’re losing weight if you feel hungry. If you don’t feel hungry, you probably aren’t losing weight, at least not significantly, and you need to change what you are eating or cut down on it. No need for magical diets, your body can tell you, if you’re losing weight.

I’ve been hearing about Seth’s stuff for a while via Andrew Gelman at Columbia. I’m skeptical that your body actually knows it’s weight. Your body generally deals in chemical and thermal signals, not abstract concepts like weight. You have some volume sensors in your stomach, but again, not weight. It’s entirely possible that it works for some other reason, so it doesn’t really matter, but I’d really like to see what’s going on in terms of insulin levels and so on. He could actually be just smoothing his calorie dose schedule.

Exercise itself, however, does not use up much energy, although it can increase your metabolism.

That very much depends on what you’re doing. Endurance events are a lot about trying to figure out how to get enough calories to avoid bonking.

Cod liver oil might work for a little while, but eventually if it had enough calories you’d grow to like the taste… I was being a little, uh, facetious, without actually coming out and calling it the Eat S**t Diet. ;-)

It uses the concentration of leptin in the blood. Fat cells produce leptin—the more fat, the more leptin. The blood gathers the leptin from all the fat cells and carries it to the brain. The brain detects the concentration of leptin in the blood and uses it to judge how much fat is on the body. What is really regulated is not body fat but leptin concentration. Which is very closely correlated with body fat.

I’ve been seriously on Atkins for 4 days now. I tried it before, but it wasn’t really Atkins because I realized I was getting way too many carbs from sodas. But anyways, here are my records (yes, those are ISO dates, I’m a geek):

That’s right, 1kg (2.2 pounds) a day. I’ve been basically eating 3 steaks a day with cheese and eggs and running (actually, jogging) 3 miles every morning. Amazing. I also take about 40g of dietary fiber every day.

Ehm.. so you go from perhaps a bit fat, to “lets not eat”. Sure you loose weight.. “not eating” has that effect on people.

But how is this healthy? This diet sounds like a trick to fool your body. Not ‘healthy’ way to loose weight. First of all, where do you get the fibers and nutriens? What.. supplements? Yeah.. sure.. our body has been made to aquire its ‘juice’ by taking pills.. Please, use some common sence.

Why not just eat well? As in.. take stuff you can easaly digest, lots of fibers, greens and ‘correct’ fatty acids. That way .. you can eat stuff which taste good, are good for the system and all without supplements and feeling hungry all the time. (The You-Are-What-You-Eat-Dr-Gillian way)

Somehow people want to lose weight the easy way, pff.. just prooves how lazy this ‘McDonalds’ generation has become.

The excersize part is something I do agree with, because all us nerds sit on our collective asses way to much. No wonder we, as a society, grow fat.

You’ve lost about 2kg of water, congratulations. Glycogen stored in the liver binds a lot of water; the dramatic initial weight loss in low-carbohydrate diets is almost entirely due to that water loss as glycogen gets depleted. It’s a nice psychological boost but meaningless. Wait a week and you’ll see a much lower (but real) rate of weight loss kick in.

Simple logic confirms this - 2kg of pure fat contains about 18,000 kCal of energy. Body fat is less energy dense than this, but it’s a decent first approximation. Hard to metabolize in two days short of catching on fire.

I learned about the diet before the book came out, and lost 20 pounds without even trying. Dr. Roberts isn’t suggestiing you live on oil or sugar water, just that you consume some of those tasteless calories between your normal meals, which by all means should be as nutritious and healthy as possible. As a result you eat less. My experience, as well as that of many other people who have tried the diet, contradicts the idea that you have to feel hungry if you’re losing weight. If you’re sure the diet doesn’t work without trying it, or even reading the book, then on what are you basing your opinion except your own ignorance? Not to put too fine a point on it.

Indeed, Maciej, you’re right. It seems (from my carefully maintained records) I’m now losing only 200g a day, and I guess that might be only because I keep an intense exercise schedule (jogging) and started lifting weights. So, well, not all that wonderful after all. I’m starting to wonder if my weight loss is coming mainly from exercise instead of meat-eating. I might reconsider if I’m gonna stick with this diet for much longer now… Thanks for the enlightenment (note to self: you haven’t read Wikipedia enough).

Simple logic confirms this - 2kg of pure fat contains about
18,000 kCal of energy. Body fat is less energy dense than this,
but it’s a decent first approximation. Hard to metabolize in two
days short of catching on fire.

The number I’ve read is about 7700 kCal per kg (3500 per pound). So yeah, you can’t burn that in two days unless you’ve been cross-country skiing 24/7.

Roberts actually mentions low-glycemic diets like South Beach and Zone. Besides being a good idea in general (reducing empty calories and lowering insulin), they reduce the flavor-calorie association strength (which is the “secret sauce” that allegedly makes this diet work).

No pain, no loss. Forget all these bullshit weight-loss
manuals.

If someone tells me “here’s a safe and painless way to feel less hungry while losing weight” I’m going to try it. Enduring unavoidable pain is noble; enduring needless pain is just stupid.

Andrew W.K. was on Conan about two years ago, and mentioned that he was trying to gain as much weight as possible. His strategy was to eat as many salty snacks as he could possibly hold, then switch to sweet snacks until he couldn’t eat any more, then back to salty, then to sweet, etc.

I’ve confirmed that this sort of consumption is possible—it’s amazing how the fullness feeling disappears upon switching from sweet to salty or vice versa. being able to do this also makes sense when one takes into account the “Pavlovian flavor conditioning.”

In Wal-Mart today, I purchased a small bottle of Extra-Light Olive Oil…because I heard of this weight-loss strategy on the Michael Savage show yesterday. Two tablespoons at least 1 hour AFTER eating. At this point, I’ll try almost anything…except proper diet and exercise. I love to sit and eat, what can I say? Long ago I was the epitomy of a health and exercise nut, before it was ever popular. I’m not certain what happened, but I stopped…and started adding on the fat. More recently, I just get tired of hearing about weight loss and healthiness. Seriously, how many more years does one add to their life by nutritional eating and exercise? Maybe working in the funeral industry has warped my ideas of life and living, for I have seen some very thin, “healthy” people die…before their time. Long story short, I do want to drop some poundage…it’s too much to carry around…and remember, I’m fat and lazy!!!

Ok, I’m in the thrid day of this diet. For the first two days I wasn’t very impressed. On the third day I’m starting to get some results.

A little about me. I’m 6’4” 235lbs. I really should be between 195 and 205, so minimally I’m looking to lose 30 lbs.

The first 2 days I drank the extra light tasting oil at night before bed (several hours after dinner), and drank sugar water between meals. I was still very hungry, and ate a HUGE dinner both nights.

I did sugar water last night before bed, and did the oil this morning. I ate a bagel this morning, and I am so full I feel like I might vomit. Normally I eat 2 and am still hungry afterwards. I went to lunch and had a single taco. Normally I might eat 2 or even 3. I feel like I ate a thanksgiving dinner for breakfast this morning.

I read the book cover to cover 3 days ago, so this is what I am thinking. Either the effect from the oil was wearing off while I slept, or it took my body a couple days to develop the enzymes to process it properly. Either way, I’m going to keep doing the oil in the morning.

On a side note, the sugar water doesn’t seem to do much for me.

Finally, I am an emotional eater. I eat my feelings so we shall see if this diet works for someone who eats out of emotional upset.

Ok, I’m in the thrid day of this diet. For the first two days I wasn’t very impressed. On the third day I’m starting to get some results.

A little about me. I’m 6’4” 235lbs. I really should be between 195 and 205, so minimally I’m looking to lose 30 lbs.

The first 2 days I drank the extra light tasting oil at night before bed (several hours after dinner), and drank sugar water between meals. I was still very hungry, and ate a HUGE dinner both nights.

I did sugar water last night before bed, and did the oil this morning. I ate a bagel this morning, and I am so full I feel like I might vomit. Normally I eat 2 and am still hungry afterwards. I went to lunch and had a single taco. Normally I might eat 2 or even 3. I feel like I ate a thanksgiving dinner for breakfast this morning.

I read the book cover to cover 3 days ago, so this is what I am thinking. Either the effect from the oil was wearing off while I slept, or it took my body a couple days to develop the enzymes to process it properly. Either way, I’m going to keep doing the oil in the morning.

On a side note, the sugar water doesn’t seem to do much for me.

Finally, I am an emotional eater. I eat my feelings so we shall see if this diet works for someone who eats out of emotional upset.

Yep, I eat to eat. I am definitely an emotional eater. To my advantage, I quit smoking and quit drinking alcohol 3 years ago. To my disadvantage, I eat in place of both. I have put on no less than 80 pounds! I am 5’8” and currently weigh around 230 lbs!!! I purchased Bertolli Extra Light and have yet to taste it. I’m still waiting to learn details of this weight loss technique. I am wondering, too, how does it affect your stool? Odd question, I know, but is this how we lose weight…by flushing out our system? For sure, this olive oil should loosen things up and out!? I gotta get this book!!! Interested to hear more encouragement.

Yep, I eat to eat. I am definitely an emotional eater. To my advantage, I quit smoking and quit drinking alcohol 3 years ago. To my disadvantage, I eat in place of both. I have put on no less than 80 pounds! I am 5’8” and currently weigh around 230 lbs!!! I purchased Bertolli Extra Light and have yet to taste it. I’m still waiting to learn details of this weight loss technique. I am wondering, too, how does it affect your stool? Odd question, I know, but is this how we lose weight…by flushing out our system? For sure, this olive oil should loosen things up and out!? I gotta get this book!!! Interested to hear more encouragement.

This just confirms what I learned in my high school PE class: fat makes you full. If you eat low-fat or fat-free foods, you won’t feel full. By having pure fat between meals, you’re helping make yourself feel fuller. Makes perfect sense!

Hello, I am a pharmcist and I just started this diet tip. I for one love to eat good food….i found that as time went on i would eat more and more…..the only thing I am changing about this diet to experiment is- i drink the sugar with a cup of green tea (which tastes pretty terrible for it’s anti-oxidant effects) and i am doing it with extra virgin olive oil for it’s therapeutic content…i do not like the way either of these things taste…so i am hoping that i am getting anti-oxidants to ward off future cancer effects. Who knows….we can only try. I need to lose at least 25 lbs for my bad back. I have gained that much for size…
wish me luck.
olga

Hello, I am a pharmcist and I just started this diet tip. I for one love to eat good food….i found that as time went on i would eat more and more…..the only thing I am changing about this diet to experiment is- i drink the sugar with a cup of green tea (which tastes pretty terrible for it’s anti-oxidant effects) and i am doing it with extra virgin olive oil for it’s therapeutic content…i do not like the way either of these things taste…so i am hoping that i am getting anti-oxidants to ward off future cancer effects. Who knows….we can only try. I need to lose at least 25 lbs for my bad back. I have gained that much for size… wish me luck. olga

Hi Olga,
You should stop what you’re doing. You can’t have any taste associated with what you injest. You cannot use EVOO because it has a very strong and distinct flavor, therefore it will NOT work.

Same goes with the sugar water. You can’t drink it with anything that will give it flavor. Once your boady gets accustomed to the flavor of green tea, it will trigger a high set response for your body.

You really need to read the book. Do what I did. The book is really small and the meat and potatos of the diet are about 3 chapters totaling about 100 pages (if that!).

Just go to your local Barnes and Noble on a nice quiet evening that you can dedicate 2~3 hours and just read it there. It took me 3 hours to read the whole thing which is about 180 pages (small pages as well).

Please do not judge me, I have made a solemn oath to buy the book if the diet works (today is my first day) and it doesn’t turn out to be a sham.

I’m 5’7 and 165 pounds. Ideally I need to be around 145 so I am hoping to lose 20 pounds. TRoday is my first day and it has been pretty good so far.

I’ve started out with the sugar water this morning without any breakfast. I drank about 2 tablespoons worth of it in 1 cup (pretty sweet, definately not for the non-sweet-toothian among us) in hot water to make myself sip it over a longer time. This is a recommendation from Dr. Seth in his book.

I got a small bottle of ELOO (Bertolli for the afternoons when I’m at home so I will try it this evening. Don’t know what it tastes like yet.

So far today I have had a Chiptole burrito in a bowl (rice, steak, black beans, 2 scoops of corn salsa, 2 scoops of mild salsa, my usual every workday) and I left about a third of it.

Its very weird. I was very hungry when I left work to pick up lunch, but by the time I came back and sat down to eat it I was still hungry but not too much and half way thru it I felt pretty full.

I couldn’t finish the remaining third of it. This is a first. I’m not sure if this is due to the sugar water or psychological conditioning (I really want this diet to work so bad that I’m lieing to myself about it, because I want to belive that it works so badly. Who knows, only time will tell).

I’ve got about 2 hours left before I head home and I’m debating whether I should get some more sugar water or wait till I get home and try some fo the ELOO.

I’ll try and update periodically on how its going so far with me.

To the gentlemen who wrote that the sugar water did not work for him, I suggest you try adding more sugar before completely discounting its effects.

How are you getting the oil down? The only thing that works for me is stirring it up in some water and drinking quickly. Star Extra Light Olive oil still has taste. How is the Bertolli? I only did the 2 T after lunch the last 2 days with no noticeable effects, so tomorrow will try it 2X day

Tip for doing the oil - this works for me really well: take a half-mouthful of water, tilt head back, pour in the tablespoon of oil, and swallow (keeping head tilted back). If you can keep the oil off the tongue, you won’t taste it. Doing this has made the process much more pleasant for me.

Also, be willing to be patient a few days. It took seven days for the appetite suppressing effect to kick in for me (I imagine my set point was pretty high - I’m 5’10”, 225lbs), although I did notice SOME effect after the third day. This seems to jibe with what I’ve read on other forums, also. Some people notice it working by the second day, others take a week. Hang in there - it’s such a cheap experiment! ;-)

How are you getting the oil down? The only thing that works for me is stirring it up in some water and drinking quickly. Star Extra Light Olive oil still has taste. How is the Bertolli? I only did the 2 T after lunch the last 2 days with no noticeable effects, so tomorrow will try it 2X day

Hi,
I tried the Bertolli yesterday afternoon. I took 2 tablespoons. It was a tad hard to swallow, but doable.
Its not that bad for me so I don’t think I will try to come up with ways to mask the taste, but if I had to, I would simply close my nose, down the 2 or 3 tablespoons and then wash that down with a mouthful of water before breathing to my nose again.
Works for everything else that I couldn’t stand the taste of(at least for me), don’t see why it wouldn’t work with ELOO.

Hesham-

this is why you could not finish the chipotle burrito: http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/wdc/26521996.html

:)

That was a nice read. Pretty funny. Thanks for the link.

However, it doesn’t apply to me because I eat the same thing everyday, barring any work related events where food is brought in by caterers (which is not that often).

If I’m really hungry that day, I will either also grab a bag of corn chips and mild salsa or stop by Wendys and grab a large fries (love fries, prefer McDonlads but too out of the way so I settle for Wendys).

And since I’m typing, might as well add an update

Second day update -
Yesterday I went back home, was a little hungry so I had a Twix. Hour and a half later I took 2 tablespoons of ELOO. Wasn’t what I expected (taste not so good) but it wasn’t that big a deal for me.

I was kind of hungry at that point. Ofcourse, I was still hungry after taking the ELOO so I decided to go out finish painting my deck to try to get my mind of of eating.

About an hour later, went back inside. Very thirsty and still hungry but it wasn’t as bad as an hour ago.

About an hour later had dinner and hit the sack. All in all, was a pretty smooth day.

Today same like yesterday, no breakfast, 2 tablespoons of sugar in 1 cup hot water which I sipped on for about 40 minutes. Hunger has been suppressed fairly well like yesterday.

The real test will be this afternoon when I exercise. I exercise every other day, usually about 35~45 minutes on my elliptical trainer.

Will have to see how I fair this afternoon and tomorrow morning. I’m usually hungrier on the morning after the days I exercise.

So far though, this has been pretty doable. I can see myself sticking with this for 2 weeks. This is the time frame that I have alloted to invest in this diet to see if it actually works.

Hope all is well with everyone else who is trying it out. I am seeing results but I don’t know yet if its power of suggestion or the diet thats actually working its magic. Too early to tell.

For those of you - or for your friends, family, or colleagues - who are having difficulty with the science of the diet as an explanation, I thought the following observation by Chris Tregenza in the comments section of Creating Passionate Users was interesting. Especially in the context of Seth Roberts’ background in psychology. I’m not saying this is what’s going on. But it’s an interesting take on things.

“I suspect the effectiveness of this diet has nothing to do with nutrition and everything to do with psychology. People with a weight problem generally have a negative emotional relationship with food. Often eating becomes a way of self-expression, possibly the only part of their lives they can control. This book, by saying eat what you want, gives the dieter the permission to eat normally. Permission is a very strong psychological factor in conformity experiments (e.g. Millgram’s electric shock study). By saying eat what you want the diet is giving the dieter permission to have a normal relationship with food. The two hours a day abstention period is a device that allows the dieter to practice not eating. Its only two hours and they can eat what they want at the end of it. Most people can manage this and when they achieve it they feel good about ‘sticking to the diet’, reinforcing the behaviour of not eating. During the two hours free of stimulants you are likely to become re-tuned to your body’s signals of hunger and thirst. Promoting a heathly, eat when you are hungry, behaviour pattern. The sugar / oil requirement is odd. I think it serves two functions. Firstly its a choice, giving the dieter control over what they consume. There is a lot of research on how choice and control effects stress levels. Secondly its a ritual. A marker point that reminds the dieter about the diet and what they are hoping to do. It also acts as a badge, or a t-shirt, for the brand. e.g. being the one on the office who makes that strange drink once a day. Behaviour can mark your allegiance to something just as much as a t-shirt or tribal scarring can. Once you belong to a tribe, this reinforces your belief or ‘buy-in’ to the tribe’s beliefs. This is beneficial in this case because you will loose weight and be healthier but also because you will promote the book to your friends, the authors and publishers are happy as well.”

I’m on my 5th day, and I’m still not losing any weight. Interestingly I am eating until I feel so full I am going to pop. Again, I am 6’4” 235, and should be no more than 205, but I’m taking 3 tablespoons of ELTOO. Drinking it is terrible (believe it or not it scratches my throat), but I am totally skeeved out by injesting that much sugar. As far as the emotional eating.. it hasn’t stopped, but it has curbed. I am going to add a 4th Tablespoon as soon as I get home from work (which is when I do most of my eating). I still have over a week to go, but so far no weight results, but again, instead of eating until satisfied, I now find myself eating until I can’t eat anymore… and much less.

As far as how do I get the oil down. I put it in a double shot glass (which turns out to be exactally 3 tablespoons) and I down it. I’ve gagged a couple times, but haven’t thrown up, so I’ll keep with that method unless I start vomiting.

Had to write to reply to Chris, who had to dissect the success of this weightloss method in a cute little “fat people are…” sort of way. How condescending.

I started this “method” (it’s not a diet in any sense of the word) recently. By the third day, a half a small egg roll and a half cup of veggie curry made me feel so full I felt that I might vomit. As a well-educated, materially successful, bright woman…I find this no less WEIRD than Chris does. The difference is, I tried it. And in trying it, I can physically feel the physical difference when I eat.

Being fat really doesn’t make us more stupid or more suggestible or or more sensitive to ritual or any of that nonsense. I wish all the naysayers would just TRY IT for a week. Then they would know the earth isn’t flat anymore. For that matter, if people would just read the book and try it, the earth would not be FAT anymore, either!

I’m intrigued by this Blog - after 15 years in the health & fitness industry I certainly believe the body’s thermostat can be adjusted.
I personally feel a large part of this adjustment comes down to changing people’s perception of food and the amount and type of food they require. And, although I do believe there’s a physiological effect in consuming the oil I see the psychological effects of reading this book (and being told that this method of weight loss will work) as more important.
Don’t forget that the mind is the most important component in any attempts at change - whether they be health and fitness related or financially related.
As I’m an Exercise & Movement Specialist I have to add that exercise has been shown to lower the body’s internal thermostat and play a crucial role in weight loss.
And, as an interesting side note, in Chinese Medicine the balance between Yin and Yang is always stressed. In regards to nutrition, this often refers to the balance between bitter and sweet. In the West this balance is skewed in favor of sweet foods and drink - a good way to break sugar cravings is to consume something bitter (maybe like the Oil?).
Worst case, even if this diet doesn’t help with your weight loss plans; you’re decreasing your risks of coronary heart disease by drinking the Olive Oil every day.
Yours in peak performance
Giles Wiley

Well, it’s going on two weeks now with the oil, and my appetite is DEFINATELY less. I haven’t seen any major shifts in my weight, but with my jeans on and my size 12 hiking shoes I am down to 233.2 from 235. I can never be sure about my weight loss though because I fluctuate up to a full 5 pounds in a day on the same scale. I have come into work at 235, and gone home at 240, only to be 235 the next morning again… Not sure what that’s all about. Finally the last thing I wanted an answer on if anyone has it. I drink a lot of diet coke, and I am wondering if that’s breaking down the oil in my stomach and making it digest faster, which according to the diet will have you gain weight. I’m doing an experiment right now where I put a tablespoon of diet coke in with 2 of oil, going to check to see how thin it is by end of day. Peace.

For anyone who cares, I have my results from my diet-coke / oil combining issue. Diet-coke reacts just like water. It stays separate! How exciting! Today I was 232.4, so I AM slowly losing weight, and I am eating normally.

Cix, no basically the deal is to have a 2 hour window that is ‘flavour free’ that is, when you don’t ingest ANTHING that is flavoured, including even brushing your teeth.
In the middle of that window, after your first hour, you take the oil, which should be as flavourless as possible (So not extra virgin).

then an hour later you are free to eat normally until your next 2hr window. You can do it a couple of times a day (don’t know if some people are doing it more?).

I take 4 tablespoons of sugar in 1000 ml of water in the morning an hour after I have brushed my teeth. I drink the mixture across the span of an hour and then I wait another hour (though I generally drink another 1000 ml or water during that time) before I can eat anything else.

I also take 2 tablespoons of extra light olive oil at night an hour or so after the last food that I have eaten and don’t brush my teeth until another hour has passed.

The effect on me is to nearly totally take my mind of food and snacking. Also, I can’t finish a meal of the portion sizes that I used to eat. I get a startlingly definitive full feeling after a third to a half of what I normally ate. If I ignore it, I feel unpleasantly stuffed and generally don’t feel like eating for a long while.

I have high triglicerides and the occasional gall bladder problem. The book address the use of ELOO and gall baldder. Does anyone know if I can still try the sugar water with the trigliceride issue?

Good question. I reduced my triglycerides with a little fish oil (a capsule of it) every monrning. My mom tried the same thing (we are related, after all) and her results were much slower and less effective.

I only used the sugar water for a month or two, and did not measure them during that time.

On the other hand, the sugar water has about the same effect as a candy bar, once a day. Do you eat that much candy regularly? If so, and you quit because of the diet, it is a wash.

I’d try to do at least half of the calories by oil and take fish oil with my vitamins every morning, but the bottom line is that no one knows.

On the other hand, having lost seventy pounds + I do expect that my triglycerides won’t have gone up.

Well I just started this “diet” this morning. I ate breakfast as normal and about an hour after eating I downed the two tablespoons of ELOO. This diet will definitely help me lose weight. If not for the scientific reasons, but because I was so nautious for the next 4 or 5 hours that I couldn’t eat lunch. By the time I felt better it was time for dose #2. The day is now almost over and all I’ve eaten is 2 peices of whole grain toast w/ natural pbutter on it…and of course the 4 tbsp. of oil. Does the sicky feeling going away after awhile???

Well I just started this “diet” this morning. I ate breakfast as normal and about an hour after eating I downed the two tablespoons of ELOO. This diet will definitely help me lose weight. If not for the scientific reasons, but because I was so nautious for the next 4 or 5 hours that I couldn’t eat lunch. By the time I felt better it was time for dose #2. The day is now almost over and all I’ve eaten is 2 peices of whole grain toast w/ natural pbutter on it…and of course the 4 tbsp. of oil. I actually haven’t been hungry at all but I’m not sure if it’s because this really works or if I’m just sick from the oil. Does the sicky feeling going away after awhile???

Well you can’t argue with proven effects (people losing weight from using the method) But you can still question its long term impact on the body and overall health and if removing hunger instead of eating right is the best way to go at it?

Hey everyone. I’m a wrestler in high school, and to be honest, I’m not worried about losing a lot of weight. I am in decent shape, and I just need to find a way to get rid of this flab of fat on my lower abdomen. I have read elsewhere that abdominal exercises do not burn the fat of of your stomach. I believe this is true, but thae calories you burn would do it, right? Anyways, I was just wondering if anyone had a plan different from mine, which was to eat a very low fat diet. I have no problem with my energy level, so I think i can do this and still be competitive. Anyone have any insight?

Hey everyone. I’m a wrestler in high school, and to be honest, I’m not worried about losing a lot of weight. I am in decent shape, and I just need to find a way to get rid of this flab of fat on my lower abdomen. I have read elsewhere that abdominal exercises do not burn the fat of of your stomach. I believe this is true, but thae calories you burn would do it, right? Anyways, I was just wondering if anyone had a plan different from mine, which was to eat a very low fat diet. I have no problem with my energy level, so I think i can do this and still be competitive. Anyone have any insight?

Hey everyone. I’m a wrestler in high school, and to be honest, I’m not worried about losing a lot of weight. I am in decent shape, and I just need to find a way to get rid of this flab of fat on my lower abdomen. I have read elsewhere that abdominal exercises do not burn the fat of of your stomach. I believe this is true, but thae calories you burn would do it, right? Anyways, I was just wondering if anyone had a plan different from mine, which was to eat a very low fat diet. I have no problem with my energy level, so I think i can do this and still be competitive. Anyone have any insight?

So whats the good word everyone?
I’m still on this train and I’ve lost about 65 pounds in a little over 5 months. For the last month I’ve been trying to adjust the oil dosage so that I maintain my weight.
I can’t lose anymore or I will look quite disturbing and I’m afraid to stop becasue Idon’t want to gain the weight again.
I’m determined to stay like this. I can’t afford to gain this back again after all this time.
Cheers.

Look, you can break out your testosterone and argue this all you want boys, but the truth is that it works. I don’t know why it works but it does. I did and still do Body for Life. I’ve been on Atkins and still do it (the right way because I’ve read the books). I’ve tried everything there is to stop obsessing with food but nothing sticks. I couldn’t go out with friends and enjoy company, I’d be thinking of the food the entire time. I’ve seen shrinks and done counseling. All for not. Now you can’t take my ELVOO away from me! I’m a believer. Guess what - I still work out and eat high protein, low carbs. But I’m not obsessing anymore. Go take that to your Body for Life board. In my opinion, why not use all the tools available to curb appetite? I think most people won’t do this because they can’t shift paradigms. I don’t care if no one else in the world does it. I found my cure and you can argue it into infinity whilst I lose that extra 20 and keep it off.

The first time I drank the oil, straight off a tablespoon, I thought I’d toss it back up. The second time I stirred it into hot water and swallowed it all quick. Better, but still a little too much aftertaste (even NO taste can leave an aftertaste!) Third time was the charm - mix it into 1/4 cup or so of COLD water, stir vigorously with a straw and then slurp it up fast through the straw. You can avoid most of your tongue and just shoot it down your throat.

I picked up the book on a recent visit to Barnes and Noble. I was actually looking for 5 Factor Fitness which has been receiving a llot of press lately but it was sold out. When I started reading about Shangri-la it immediately spoke to me and I couldn’t out it down. I just knew it was true. I’m on day 3 and I feel so full all the time it’s uncomfortable. In other words—I’m exstatic. I do have a question though: I want to lose about 25 pounds. Has anyone like me, at 5’5 1/2” and 151 pounds lost 20 pounds or more with this or is it mostly for obese people??? Thanks!!!

Hey AC,
I am doing Shangri-La PLUS 5-Factor fitness workouts, and it’s a fantastic combo. I am getting stronger and more toned than ever (great workout program) and I’ve gone from 145# to 133.8 in the past 6 weeks or so. Have only gotten stronger in the gym, no muscle loss! My goal is 129#, and I’m 5-6.